Denver Botanic Gardens' School of Botanical Art and Illustration is designed to teach the skills necessary to portray plants accurately both for scientific purposes and for beautiful plant illustrations. The school is open for everybody, both for committed illustrator and enthusiastic amateur. The program can lead to a Certificate that is offered only a few locations worldwide. The Certificate Program was initiated and established in 1990 by Angela Overy.

It takes a gifted artist to become a great teacher and those who dare to teach never cease to learn.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Alexander Marshal (c. 1620-1682) painted not to document scientific discoveries, not for publication nor for sale but for pleasure. A highly skilled, although self-taught artist, Alexander Marshal was a horticulturist and famed entomologist who believed the cultivation of plants was essential to the study of the natural world. The Florilegium of Alexander Marshal (c.1620—82) has been part of the Royal Collection since the times of King George IV. The art is now included in the collections of the Royal Library at Windsor Castle containing 159 folios of exquisite water colors portraying more than 600 different plants, both native and exotic, together with meticulous studies of insects, birds and animals. It is the only surviving example of a flower-book painted by an English artist in the 17th century. This was also the first collection that was made for the pleasure of the eye and not for a herbal. Despite Marshal’s importance as an artist, no full-scale study of his work has ever been published.The Florilegium of Alexander Marshal at Windsor Castle by Prudence Leith-Ross and Henrietta McBurney was published in 2000 showing the 159 folios beautifully reproduced as a full-page color plates. Some of Marshal’s works were also included in Amazing Rare Things exhibition curated by David Attenborough. Those of us who saw that exhibit certainly noticed the fresh and bright colors in the art. Mr. Marshal experimented with different pigments extracting them from flowers, berries, roots and gums.

Quite recently the Viking Studia published a condensed version of "The Florilegium of Alexander Marshal" with the title Mr. Marshal’s Flower book containing 140 stunning illustrations and the abridged text from Prudence Leith-Ross and Henrietta McBurney book from 2000.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

James Gurney is an artist and author probably best known for his illustrated book series about Dinotopia. Dinotopia is the isolated island inhabited by shipwrecked humans and dinosaurs coexisting peacefully in the same society.Less well-known might be the dozens of science fiction and fantasy paperback covers James Gurney has painted for works by authors such as Tim Powers and Alan Dean Foster, the background paintings he has done for the film industry, the stamps (World of Dinosaurs, released by USPS on May 1st 1997), and uncounted illustrations for "National Geographic" and other publications. Dinotopia has been translated at least into 18 languages.James Gurney is coming to Denver Botanic Gardens on March 5th, 2009….more

Friday, December 19, 2008

Rutabaga is the most popular root vegetable in the Finnish cuisine. It is included in casseroles and served as a side dish alongside meat and salads. Rutabaga casserole (Lanttulaatikko) is one of the oldest holiday dishes in Finland. Rutabaga was cultivated in Finland already in the 17th century and the rutabaga casserole has been part of the festivity cooking since then. As requested by many, click for the recipe here.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Cardamom, Elettaria cardamomum, also known as Malabar or Ceylon cardamom grows wild in the Ghat Mountains of the Malabar Coast, southwestern India and on Sri Lanka. It is a perennial, up to 6 meters tall (~20 ft.) plant with flower stalk that is only a one meter high. The seedpod is a centimeter long capsule containing up to 20 seeds. The harvesting (the seedpods need to be harvested individually) and growing cardamom is very labor intense making Cardamom the second most expensive spice in the world.

Cardamom was considered as a cure against obesity and dysuria already more than 3000 years ago. It has long been famous as an aphrodiasiac. It was imported to Greece by the fourth century B.C. Romans started to use the spice in cooking.

India and Guatemala are the biggest cardamom producers today.

The traditional Indian cuisine consumes ca 50 % of world's production and the second 50 % of the modern cardamom consumption is divided between Near East (Saudi-Arabia) and Nordic Countries led by Sweden and Finland. Arabs use Cardamom in coffee, west Europeans use it in sweet pastries; they also mix it with hamburger meat, meat loaf and sausage meat. Cardamom is also an important part of the Danziger Goldwasser, mulled wine and glögg.